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Why Romney Is Slipping

Mitt Romney said in an interview aired on Sunday that his campaign “doesn’t need a turnaround.” He told CBS News’s “60 Minutes” that he is tied with President Obama; he has a “very effective campaign; it’s doing a very good job;” and all he needs to do to win is keep repeating his plan to restore economic freedom.

That’s an outright denial of political reality, but Mr. Romney’s willingness to stray from the truth is at the root of what’s really going on. His campaign has been losing ground since the two political conventions. All the reliable national polls now show Mr. Obama ahead, and in twocases substantially so — beyond the margin of error. A variety of polls also shows Mr. Obama with growing leads in most of the important swing states.

To some extent, Mr. Romney’s diminishing stature is because of two recent statements that revealed his deficiencies to a newly interested audience. He falsely suggested that the Obama administration was sympathetic to the violent Muslim protests in Libya and Egypt, illustrating his ignorant and opportunistic critique of foreign policy. And he was caught on video belittling nearly half the country for an overreliance on government handouts.

These moments, though, were not fumbles or gaffes. They were entirely consistent with the dismissive attitude Mr. Romney has routinely shown toward non-Americans or the nonrich. Now even long-undecided voters are starting to catch on and dismiss him.

In Wisconsin, for example, a hotly contested state that has veered Republican in recent elections, Mr. Obama leads Mr. Romney by 17 points when voters are asked who cares about their needs and problems, according to a Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS News poll published last week of likely voters. The poll found that only 10 percent of voters said his policies would favor the middle class. (This poll was taken before the video showing his disdain for 47 percent of the country.)

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Voters don’t react positively when a candidate speaks incomprehensibly about taxes, as Mr. Romney did on “60 Minutes.” He said he would lower everyone’s tax rate by 20 percent but that everyone would wind up paying essentially the same taxes because he would limit unspecified deductions and exemptions. Even on its face, that makes little sense. If everyone will pay the same taxes, how does that stimulate growth or reduce unfairness? In fact, tax experts say the rate cut is such a huge benefit for the rich that it can’t be balanced by curbing their deductions. But listeners don’t have to do the math to calculate how fundamentally hollow the proposal is.

Asked about the government’s responsibility to the 50 million Americans without health insurance, Mr. Romney said they already have access to health care: in emergency rooms. That, of course, is the most expensive and least effective way of providing care, as someone who once advocated universal care has reason to know. But it also reeks of contempt for those left behind by the current insurance system, suggesting that they must suffer with illness until the point where they need an ambulance.